Old news by now, but last week Dan Lovitz was both acquired by the new New York club in the 2014 Expansion Draft and then returned to TFC for some allocation money. The move rang some bells that harkened back to the 2006 Expansion Draft, as Toronto prepared to enter MLS the following season. With their seventh of ten picks in that draft, TFC selected New York City head coach, then Real Salt Lake forward, Jason Kreis. Kreis would return to Salt Lake in exchange for allocation money, retiring just months later – May 3 – to take up the reins as head coach. Kreis was in no way happy with the potential move, as detailed in this piece from RSL Soapbox, and given the chance to pull that same move on the team – if not the actual perpetrators (Mo Johnston has long since been replaced) – that had so disrespected him, he expertly returned the favour by selecting Lovitz and negotiating his return. Mysterious allocation money was pried from the victim-club in each case. Whether or not Kreis had a specific interest in acquiring Lovitz as a player and not as a chess-piece is impossible to discern, though he claimed in an interview after the draft that such machinations were not a part of their strategy. One thing that is certain is that such moves can help spur a nascent rivalry. When Montreal attempted to pull a similar trick back in 2011, selecting Houston Dynamo legend Brian Ching in an effort to lure Andre Hainault to the expansion club, the result was ineffectual – Ching returned to Houston, where Hainault remained; an unsuccessful gamble that returned a conditional pick in the 2013 SuperDraft (a pick that became the 18th overall – Fernando Monge). Since then, Montreal and Houston games have carried a level of dislike that could be considered unnatural given the differences between the two towns, who have no particular reason for enmity – aided by a fiery 4-2 Montreal home win in their first meeting and carried forward to an explosive playoff meeting in the Eastern Knockout Round in 2013 that saw a trio Impact players sent off in a second half unravelling. Adding to that Kreis-TFC dimension is the unkind display that Toronto fans gave to NYC Sporting Director Claudio Reyna when he visited...

What is this that your eyes see? The Vocal Minority Podcast in text form? Don’t blink, don’t look away, just keep reading as we, the (sometimes) loony lot from the Vocal Minority Podcast return to our blogging roots. Yes it’s true, we’ve decided to go old school and get back to putting pen to the proverbial paper. The four of us have all written our own blogs, as well as writing together on The Yorkies and Waking The Red blogs; not to mention the countless hours we’ve spent in the stands, on twitter and in the pub watching, talking, agonizing and analysing Toronto FC. So when this podcast thing starting getting us nominated for awards we thought, hey – that calls for its own website! Seriously we just decided that we needed to spend even more time together laughing and crying our way through the joy and pain, (mostly pain) of supporting TFC. We’ve got a new site, a new badge but the same old cynical, puntastic, gallows humour tinted attitude – you wouldn’t want us to change now would you? So while you may already know us, allow us to welcome you to our new adventure: It is with great excitement that I welcome you to this brand new venture that we have launched today. For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I was the Managing Editor and a writer at the Toronto FC supporters’ blog “The Yorkies” along with Mark Hinkley, one of my fellow panelists on The Vocal Minority Podcast. While it was bittersweet to recently say goodbye to the former outlet of my malarkey and opinion, this new site will match and surpass the fun we had there. I am so lucky to get to work alongside – and draw inspiration from – my three other colleagues here and I know that if you like balancing both the frustration and humour of supporting TFC, you will enjoy what we have planned. From me in particular you will read serious opinion (and often critical) pieces about Toronto FC while also getting the absurdity you expect from a writer that thinks Latvian vowel-dropping is a legitimate literary tool. And yes… there will be lists. So join us as we travel together on the fun house ride that is supporting Toronto FC. Through...

The gang is all here to review the win over the “class of the league” Atlanta, lament the season, discuss some Halloween, and more malarkey per minute than usual. In this episode Mark “attempts” to “interview” a supporter from Las Vegas Lights FC, Duncan tries to make a deal for the season, Kristin knows sandwiches (sorta) and Tony suggests an audio division between one side of the table and the...

This could be considered shameless clickbait, but that’s because the seven of you who read this are WEAK (just like me)! If you agree or disagree, please leave a comment down below or bug me on Twitter. Remember though : I probably hate your club. Middlesbrough Home Manufacturer: Hummel In a Nutshell: Classic Boro look with chevrons. Club shop link to save you the trouble I have a long-running love of Hummel kits. Don’t...

The others have no idea that I’m doing this, so here it goes… Are you a football fashionista? You like your kits stylish, progressive, clean, crisp, (or as the kids say) sick? Well if I was wealthy, I’d own all these new bits of kit. But since I’m not… (pause for the gasps to die down)… here’s what I think are some nice shirts that you may have missed. So here’s what I like....

The Part I Write Before : Man, how long has it been? A meaningless match. How complacent have we all been with this that we forgot hahahahahahaha… We’ll never forget. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always enjoy, at the very least, chasing the last playoff spot, but this season has been one oversized shrug. DC have been killing it since Rooney’s arrival, from the foot of the table, currently sitting in sixth,...

The gang is mostly here to record remotely to reflect on the Vancouver match, look ahead to DC and Montreal, talk all senior Canadian National Teams, talk some MLS and the usual malarkey. In this episode, Kristin still hates Canada, Mark suffered a power outage during the recording (can you tell where?) and Duncan reflects on disappointing scorelines. This episode is always and forever brought to you by Giovinco.ca for all of your...

The Part I Write Before : Well, as I write this, Montreal have very handily and often quite prettily beat Columbus 3-0, so this is now literally a must win game for TFC if they still have any hopes of getting a playoff place. So I guess this will be a documenting of the end really, as I’m not all that confident. There’s a chance obviously of a win here, Vancouver are kind of shit, even without Carl Robinson, and hey, TFC...

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We are an independent group of passionate Toronto FC supporters that love their club, but are all too aware that love is far from blind. Join us as we write, rant and podcast through the trials and tribulations of supporting The Reds. A football site with a pop-culture slant, we bring you TFC news and opinion from the stands, with a healthy dose of gallows humour and malarkey. We are The Vocal Minority.